Podium finish for Dan Thornhill at Weston

Podium finish for Dan Thornhill at Weston

Friday 12 October, how excited was I, ready in Weston-super-Mare for the 30th Weston Beach Race, signed on and took my two bikes through scrutineering ready for the Youth 125/250cc and the main solo event.

Saturday morning, up early feeling fresh, the first race of the weekend was the Youth race, down to the Parc Ferme for the 9am start. I was eagerly waiting at the fence, excited to get on my bike, hoping the first kick would power up my bike ready to go. Friday night, we had a lot of rain, and hoping the damp had not got in anywhere.

Gates opened we were off, first kick the bike powered up, warmed it up and they let us on the beach for the race start at 9.10am. Great start had the holeshot felt absolutely fantastic leading the pack down the beach to the first corner.

Got focused on the track and pulled a good lead from the rest of the pack, but disaster struck the bike stopped down the long straight, pulled over and kicked and kicked, finally she powered up and I was off again, but lost first place to Watson.

A meal and a good night sleep, felt fully recovered from the Youth Race, looking forward to the 3 hour Solo Race.

As a seeded rider, riding no. 10, my bike was brought forward and I sat in the holding pen, with Herlings, Simpson, De Dyker, Church, what a buzz.

The gate opened dead on 1pm, we all charged down to the beach ready for the start, I could not wait to get going, felt so good.

The gates opened we were off, collided on the first dune but was heading down the mile start in about 3rd place, but I couldn’t believe my luck, the bike got slower and slower and stopped, I was devastated. Managed to get the bike going, and limbed back to the pits, Dad worked on the bike for 1hr and 10 minutes, we stripped the bike down, changed the plug, checked all the electrics, must have got some water somewhere.

Got the bike going wasn’t running perfectly, but just wanted to get out on the beach, starting again an hour and 10 minutes into the race, rode really hard my lap times were really consistent, and completed 14 laps, finishing 101st. I was gutted but enjoyed riding the race, and now cannot wait for next year’s beach race.

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